The Washington Nationals have informed longtime Executive Director of Medical Services Harvey Sharman that his contract will not be renewed, ending a nearly decade-long tenure overseeing the organization’s medical, athletic training and strength-and-conditioning operations.

Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal first reported Friday that the Nationals were parting ways with Sharman, who joined the club ahead of the 2016 season as part of a significant overhaul of its player-health operation at the time.

Sharman’s departure marks the end of one of the more distinctive behind-the-scenes tenures of the Mike Rizzo era. The British physiotherapist was hired away from Leeds United Football Club after spending 15 years in the English club’s medical department, including the previous eight as its Director of Sports Medicine.

The Nationals hired Sharman after the 2015 season, when the organization sought to modernize its approach to athletic training, medical care, rehabilitation and injury prevention.

Sharman arrived from Leeds United with a background in physiotherapy, movement assessment and the development of injury-prevention plans. He began his Leeds career as an assistant physiotherapist before rising to head the organization’s medical department. When Washington announced his hiring, the club said Sharman’s work at Leeds had contributed to an injury reduction of more than 50 percent, including a meaningful decline in soft-tissue injuries involving muscles, ligaments and tendons.mlb

His hiring was notable because the Nationals looked beyond Major League Baseball for a leader of their medical operation. Rather than promoting a traditional baseball athletic trainer into the top role, Washington turned to a performance-science executive from English soccer.

At the time, the move represented a broad organizational bet that better screening, individualized training and improved communication among medical, coaching and player-development staffs could help the Nationals keep more players healthy over a 162-game season.

As Executive Director of Medical Services, Sharman worked with the Nationals’ Medical Services Advisory Board and oversaw the club’s athletic training staff and strength-and-conditioning programming

His responsibilities extended beyond treating injured players. The position sat at the intersection of prevention, rehabilitation, performance preparation and communication across the organization.

That work can include:

Medical and performance departments are often among the most consequential groups in a baseball organization, even though much of their work occurs away from public view. A major league team’s roster, depth chart and developmental plan can change quickly when players are unavailable, particularly when injuries affect young pitchers, everyday position players or recently acquired veterans.

Sharman’s departure is important because he was closely associated with the Nationals’ long-running effort to use sports science and injury prevention as an organizational advantage.

Washington’s original decision to hire him followed an injury-heavy 2015 season and reflected a belief that player availability could be improved through a more integrated approach. His cross-sport experience made him an unconventional hire in baseball, but it also made him a clear symbol of the organization’s attempt to import ideas from outside Major League Baseball.

The decision to move on now could indicate that the Nationals are preparing to reassess their player-health structure as the club continues to transition toward a younger roster.

Any replacement will inherit responsibilities that affect both the major-league team and the farm system. That includes the physical development and workload management of young players, rehabilitation plans for injured prospects and veterans, offseason preparation, and the communication among coaches, trainers, strength staff and baseball operations.

It would be too simplistic to judge any medical department solely by a team’s injury list. Player health is affected by age, prior injuries, workload, roster construction, game demands, recovery, training habits and unavoidable bad luck. But the leader of medical services helps shape the processes intended to manage those risks.

The Nationals have not publicly announced Sharman’s replacement or detailed whether additional changes will be made to the medical, athletic training, strength or performance staffs.

The next hire will be worth watching because it may reveal how Washington plans to structure player health and performance moving forward. The club could choose a successor with a traditional baseball athletic-training background, a performance-science focus similar to Sharman’s, or a leader whose experience spans both medical care and player development.

For now, the immediate takeaway is clear: the Nationals are ending a tenure that began with one of the organization’s most ambitious behind-the-scenes overhauls.

Sharman arrived in Washington as a pioneering cross-sport hire tasked with helping reshape the club’s approach to injury prevention and performance. Nearly 10 years later, the Nationals will begin searching for the person who will lead the next version of that operation.